Okay kids, it’s time for the first ever Metroblogging DC T-shirt Slogan Contest! We need a slogan that will appear on a very special, limited-edition tee that will debut at a Metroblogging DC event that will be announced soon (watch this space for details).

The rules are thus: Submit your entries in the comments of this post. We’ll accept entries until Midnight, July 6th (Wednesday night) at which point we’ll close comments. The Metroblogging DC writers will choose a winner, who will get a free t-shirt on which their winning slogan appears. Metroblogging DC writers may participate in the contest since we’re all grownup enough to accept the possibility that our slogans may not win.

We’re looking for something snarky, witty, and PG-13. It’s that last requirement that caused us to abandon our current favorite:

“Metroblogging DC: The Washington blog that’s NOT about ass–fucking!”

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

I am surprised no one pounced on this, to rub it in my face and all, but there was an article in WashPost this weekend about a DC police patrol giving out tickets to cyclists and jaywalkers at 16th and L Streets NW.

Note I said one DC police patrol (not sure if it was a lone cop to two in one squad car) but somehow the writer took this small incident, which was the first I’ve ever heard in the District, and then made giant leaps of logic to get to a “nanny state”.

Somehow a handful of $10 jaywalking tickets + a proposed smoking ban + Traffic Enforcement Officers = “the District is turning into a Big Brother nanny state.”

In that case, we all better steer clear of NoVA, since another WashPost article notes:

In Virginia, you can’t frequent a poolroom in Vienna if you’re younger than 18. It’s against the law in Norfolk to trick-or-treat after 8 p.m. or to do it if you’re older than 12. Violations are Class 4 misdemeanors, punishable by a fine of up to $250. Fairfax County ordinances prohibit certain behavior on public transportation, such as using pogo sticks.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

National Kissing Day?

While Jacques Chirac likely won’t be kissing Tony Blair after having the Olympics taken from him, it might be entirely possible that everyone in the city is kissing the Nationals. With average attendance on its way above 33,000, and the Nats 4.5 games ahead of the Braves and in sole possession of the NL East lead, two pitchers bound for the All-Star game (The Chief and Rubber-Armed Livan Hernandez) and the team 19 games over .500, this ballclub is surprising just about everyone. If they keep playing the way they have been so far this season, they’re on pace for 100 wins, and the first playoff action this town has seen 1933.

Go Nats!

They’re home the rest of this week, with a night game against the Mets tonight (seats available through Ticketbastard), and a day game against the Mets tomorrow (single seats available through Ticketbastard). I’ll be there Thursday for the big networking event at the PNC Club. See you there!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

That’s right, your favorite week of epicurean indulgence is coming up, running the first week in August. Featuring lunch for $20.05 and dinner for $30.05, this gives you a chance to try those places you might not otherwise want to spend your hard-earned cash on. Of course, Jason Storch of DCFoodies.com has the master list for the restaurants that are part of the promotion. Get your dialing fingers ready!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Damn! Its now 10:15pm and looking around DC from my rooftop, you’d never know that the fireworks on the Mall ended at 9:30pm. No, from my rooftop it is still a cornucopia of color and light as fireworks all across the city explode into the night air.

Even during the big show on the Mall, I couldn’t take my eyes off Anacostia. There, it looked as if the War of the Worlds started, with all the fireworks illuminating the night. I’m not talking one here or one there. I am talking about the entire skyline lit up with color. Lit up in a way I would never believe had I not seen it myself.

Wait, correct that, see it myself as the show, even now, still goes on. From over by Children’s Hospital its green, from around Catholic, golden, from 14th, sparklers, from RFK, all manner of lights blending in to make Southwest a cloud of smoke and light.

From those I’ve asked, they say this happens every year. This is my first 4th in DC with a 7th floor view on top of Mt Pleasant, and, wow! what a show. Now if you don’t mind, I’m gonna go back watching because, yes, its still going on!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

After meandering up for dinner at Sala Thai on U Street, then sweating my eyebrows off with delicious duck in coconut red curry, we strolled back home just in time to stop and watch the fireworks from the corner of 11th and Vermont. A nice crowd of people were already gathered – a few house parties, families, our neighbors.

The view was perfect – the fireworks were beautifully framed by the spire of a local church. As the finale began everyone in the neighborhood who had been holding on to a stash of fireworks released them, with children delightedly (yet safely!) cheering.

The fantastic thing about living in the city are moments like these – you don’t have to push through the crowds at the Mall, or fight through them at the Metro. You can stand on your own street corner and watch the brilliance there.

As I write this I can still hear a few local fireworks that will continue for a while, before people finally head off to sleep.

I really love my neighborhood.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Doing the July 4th BBQ thing today in Rock Creek Park. While some folks think DC is all urban, and there isn’t any nature, I say they are fools. They’ve not seen Rock Creek Park. They’ve not driven the park at dusk and dodged deer. They’ve not gone back in the woods, off the streets, exploring.

Those who do, know it gets real wild, real quick, with real coyotes to boot. If you wander off trail, you can even get lost. And I’m not talking, lost like you don’t know what neighborhood you’re in, but lost like you don’t know which way back to civilization lost.

If you don’t believe me, just ask Chandra Levy. It took authorities a year to find her body and they searched within 125 yards of her twice.

And today we were in a spot just as wild. While we were much on burgers, a deer walked through our grill spot. Then, when going for a errant Frisbee, I found the skull and antlers of another deer. Last but not least, we picked wild raspberries for desert.

You match that DC suburbia.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Today we honor the birth of our nation in Washington DC. The text that dissolved our bonds with the British Empire is some of the most wonderful prose in the grand history of nations, and worth a read in today’s times.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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Okay folks at Front Page, just who do you think I am? I know I was drunk when I left on Friday night, those six or eight Coronas kicking in hard, but I was a nice guy. I tipped you well, I kept to my crew, I even make sure one guy readjusted his beer goggles before it was too late.

So then, why did you mistake me for someone else? How could you think I am not who I say I am? When did you change my identity? I am me, and I am the same me for more than 29 years, and I’m happy with who I say I am.

I have no need to change, no want to be different, no desire to modify. So again, Front Page, just who do you think I am?

Ben M Gauthier?!!

And why the hell am I him? What does he have that I don’t? Why is he so special? You can’t answer that can you? You have no clue, eh? Then why, pray tell, did you hand me his credit card by mistake? You giving me a hint? Saying I should be him, or just spend his money?

You’re lucky Front Page, lucky I’m a swift guy (when sober) as I was about to fly a bit on dear Ben. Out to Vegas I’m headed, and he was gonna be in for a shock. Don’t know about Ben, but most wouldn’t be happy with what I do to credit cards in Sin City. And me, I’m not happy with what you did with mine.

Ben, wanna trade?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

My husband Chris and I went out for a sushi lunch in Woodley Park today.
We thought, “Hmm, Woodley, haven’t been there in a while.”

Of course we forgot with its proximity to the National Zoo and this being Fourth of July weekend, that it would be overrun with tourists. This isn’t so bad, after all, we appreciate their dollars spent in our local economy. However, what we witnessed at lunch today makes it imperative that I point out a few minor etiquette matters on their behalf:

1. When eating in a restaurant, please remove your baseball caps. This especially applies to grown men.

2. Don’t encourage your little darlings to scream and shout by mock-fencing them with your chopsticks.

3. When sitting at a tatami table at a sushi restaurant where you remove your shoes, please put them back on before you paddle barefoot into the public restroom. Oh, and remember to put your children’s shoes back on before they do it too.

And finally, most importantly,

4. When dining out with babies, please change their diapers in the restroom, not at the table in full view of other diners.

By your following these rules, the young lady sitting next to you will refrain from breaking hers, and we can all get along famously.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Few things in DC could really be considered Platonic Ideals, but I think I have identified one amongst a seemingly shrinking number of these things in our fair city.

Galileo Grill. Tiffany I headed over there for a treat lunch, and boy, was that worth the five block walk each way. The sausage sandwich, which I ordered as “Italian Sausage sandwich,” to which Roberto himself responded, “What, did you think we’d have French?” I responded after stammering, “I shudder to think what they’d put in it…”

We both got a chuckle out of it.

Oddest to me was the payment system. There is no cashier. There is just a box of money sitting on the counter. Put in what you owe, take change if necessary. I fumbled with my mathematics, trying to add hastily before the line grew surly, I hope I put in the right amount…

But wow, the sandwich was amazing. The bread was crusty, but not hard. The pesto was not overly basil-esque or garlic-y, and the sausage was perfectly done. Juicy, yet finished.

Better still, though, was the cannoli. Wow. There just aren’t words.

It’s open next Wednesday and Thursday from 11:45a until the food’s all gone. Take Cash. Go Early. Plan to wait in line. It’s worth it.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Van Man was sentenced yesterday. It was supposed to be routine- obviously guilty, Van Man, whose secret identity is Lowell W. Timmers (a mild-mannered woodcutter from Michigan), was to plead guilty to the charges and be sentenced to 34 months for threatening to blow up 10 gallons of gas in front of the White House.

But then the judge, as judges are wont to do, asked him how likely he is to do it again. Van Man’s response?

“There’s always a chance of anything, Your Honor.”

But wait, it gets better. Better than telling the judge that you might threaten to blow up the White House again? Oh yes.

Apparently, Mr. Timmers is a “deeply, deeply philosophical person” who doesn’t believe in absolutes.

So, who remembers the man in the shack with the cat from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series? The one who didn’t believe in absolutes and so was the only person who could be trusted to rule the galaxy because he was the only person who wouldn’t actually want the job?

Apparently Adams forgot to tell us that his name is Lowell Timmers. According to his attorney, Timmers questions existence so thoroughly that “If you asked him if anything is absolute in this world, he may tell you he’s not sure he’s standing here.”

Right. I see.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs